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GARLIC and Quinoa Salad With Roasted Garlic

GARLICOne of Nature’s Brightest Bulbs My mother used to tell me that the secret
to her cooking was salt, pepper, and garlic—lots of garlic. She’d make potent
Caesar dressings, bracingly sharp aiolis, and fragrant garlic-rubbed roast
chicken. I loved her cooking because of it. We never understood how people could
dislike garlic. (Some people are just plain crazy, I suppose, with their fear
of garlic breath.) She added garlic for flavor and flavor alone long before it
was eaten for its health benefits. Garlic has been found to reduce cholesterol
and blood pressure, improve circulation and immune function, and lower overall
cancer risk. Not bad for something that tastes so good.

Garlic imparts its flavor based on how
it’s prepared before cooking. By crushing, mincing, or puréeing garlic, you
release its essential oils, the bulk of its potency. You could stick a whole
head of unpeeled garlic into a braise or stew and still not impart as much
oomph as a few finely minced cloves.

When shopping for garlic, opt for fresh
bulbs over the pre­peeled or the prechopped stuff in a jar, which bears little
resemblance to its fresh counterpart. Prepeeled garlic is inar­guably
convenient, but the blanching process that removes the skin also robs it of
some of its flavor. Look for firm, fresh bulbs with taut papery skin. Once you
get it home, store garlic in a cool, dark place, such as a kitchen cupboard.

While I’m a true garlic fan, I realize
many people don’t share the same affinity for its aggressively strong flavor.
So for you, we’ll turn to roasting. Roasted whole, the cloves develop a
pleasant sweetness that even haters seem to fancy. You can use roasted garlic
for any number of dishes, from bruschetta to salad dressing to pasta sauce.
You’ll still get all the health benefits and most of the flavor but less of the
garlic breath—if you’re at all concerned.

All Fitness __ GARLIC

— Bryan Roof, RD, LDN, is a chef, dietitian, and food writer living in
Boston.

Quinoa Salad With Roasted Garlic

While this recipe gives directions for
cooking 1 bulb of garlic, you can easily roast two or three at a time for later
use. This salad is great garnished with feta cheese.

Serves 6 as a side dish

Ingredients

1 garlic bulb

1 cup water

3⁄4 cup quinoa

1⁄4 cup red wine vinegar

3 T fresh lemon juice

3 T extra-virgin olive oil

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1⁄2 tsp fine sea salt

3⁄4 tsp black pepper

1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and
chopped

1 cup diced English cucumber

1 cup fresh cilantro leaves, coarsely
chopped

2 scallions, sliced thin

1⁄4 cup sliced red onion

1⁄4 cup cashew pieces

Directions

1. Adjust the oven rack to the middle
position and heat the oven to 350˚F. Cut off the top 1⁄4-inch stem of the
garlic bulb and discard. Wrap the bulb in aluminum foil and roast until tender
and fragrant, 1 to 11⁄4 hours. Let the foil-wrapped garlic sit at room
temperature until cool enough to handle.

2. Meanwhile, bring water to a boil in a
small sauce­pan over medium-high heat. Stir in the quinoa and return to a boil.
Remove the pot from the heat, cover, and let sit undisturbed for 20 minutes.
Fluff the quinoa with a fork and let cool to room temperature.

3. Whisk the vinegar, lemon juice, olive
oil, mus­tard, salt, and pepper together in a large bowl. Add the quinoa, bell
pepper, cucumber, cilantro, scallions, onion, and cashews. Squeeze the root end
of the garlic bulb, forcing the roasted garlic out of the cut end and into the
bowl. Toss the ingredients to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve.